Philadelphia

In the fall of 2013, the School District of Philadelphia faced the largest deficit in its history, resulting in hundreds of layoffs. Schools were left underfunded and understaffed for the majority of the 2013-2014 school year. (more…)

Philadelphia’s Outfest is a yearly festival held the second sunday in October to celebrate National Coming Out Day. The festival attracts thousand of LGBT individuals and supporters. The popular festival also attracts a group of Christian protesters that preach against homosexuality. Confrontations between the preachers and the festival goers can be tense often requiring police supervision. The following audio slideshow documents this confrontation.

Protesting further losses in staff and resources to their school, around 200 students from Constitution High School staged a “sit-in” in front of their school’s entrance early Wednesday morning.

The school’s staff was informed Monday during an emergency meeting that $90,000 would be trimmed from the school’s budget, according to Kathleen Melville, an English and Spanish teacher at Constitution, a citywide admission school in Center City. The reduction is a result of leveling, the District’s process of reassigning teachers about six weeks into the school year, based on actual enrollments at that time. (more…)